Lecho with chickpea

This recipe is a game-changer on my diet. Once I make it, I have a tasty lunch or supper for about four days. It can be eaten with pasta (I use corn pasta), groat, potatoes or whatever you want. The original recipe is here. I haven’t made any modifications except one – I don’t use agave syrup. I even don’t know how it looks and what it tastes like. Oh, but maybe it’s tequila? THAT I know!

Ingredients:

chickpea

peppers: 1 green, 1 yellow, 2 red

paprika: sweet, hot and smoked sweet

red onion

zucchini

canned tomatoes

olive oil

salt, pepper

For this recipe you can use canned chickpea, but I prefer using raw. If you want to use raw, you have to start with soaking it for about 6-8 hours before preparing other ingredients. After that time, drain the chickpea, wash it, pour fresh water and cook for about 40 minutes (until soft).

Back to the main recipe: cut peppers and onion into big chunks. If you don’t have peppers in every color, like I suggested, it’s okay to use any you have. The same rule is applicable when it comes to onion. Just don’t worry about it, everything is gonna be fine.

So many bright colors, even my terrible lighting couldn’t mess that

Warm some olive oil in a wide and tall pot. Fry the onion and chickpea for about 2-3 minutes. Add one tablespoon of sweet paprika, one tablespoon of smoked sweet paprika and half of a tablespoon of hot paprika.

Here is the thing when it comes to smoked paprika: it gives a strong smoked taste that you would originally get from the smoked sausage in lecho. If you don’t have it, you doesn’t have to use it but it’s definitely worth trying. I couldn’t find it in grocery store, so I ordered it online.

Again, back to the recipe: mix everything thoroughly and fry for one minute. Then add peppers and fry for 10 minutes. Peel the zucchini every second stripe and cut in about 1.5 cm thick pieces, then cut them in half. This way of peeling and cutting prevents zucchini from falling apart or being too hard. Add zucchini to the pot, simmer for 3 minutes and add a can of peeled cut tomatoes. Mix everything and simmer for about 10 minutes, season with salt and pepper.

I promise! It tastes more delicious than it looks in the main picture.